Insanity... indeed

I have a fast approaching 5k that I am so not prepared for.  My best friend and I decided it would be a good idea and good motivation for both of us to sign up for our first 5k together.  Thing is - she's tiny, super tiny and always has been.  She was even tiny while she was pregnant (well you know what I mean right?).  She's also in better shape than I am.  In the past I may have been able to beat her in strength exercises but she's always won out in cardio.  She has also been training on a regular schedule where as I did too.. for about three weeks.  Then my list of excuses started to grow.  "Oh I'm too tired", "Oh I'm sickish", "Oh I just worked a triple to cover call-ins I can't go run I need to collapse on the bed".  Really it seems like every time I start to get back on track my schedule at work goes insane and I'm doing good to just get 4 hours of sleep a night, much less exercise, or cook dinner, or do laundry.  One night this week I didn't even come home - I stayed with Dearest's g-mother since she live closer to where I work so I could get an extra hour of sleep.  Anyway what was my point?... Oh right excuses...

I'm running out of time and I'm going to be a mess on race day.  A hot sweaty mess.  Dressed like a snow fairy.  That's right we're dressing up.

In my desperation I started looking for quick fixes and cure alls.  Enter Insanity.  I've seen the infomercials, I own Hip Hop Abs and love Shaun T.  I've wanted to try it but didn't want to pay the money for it.  Well magically I found a set for sale on Craigslist less than 10 miles from my house, and for less than half of what I'd have to pay for it new from BeachBody.  I'm also a slave to instant gratification so imagine my delight at being able to lay hands on it without waiting for shipping once that decision to buy it had been made.

I haven't taken my "before" pics yet, going to get Dearest to help me with that today I think.  I also need to record my current measurements.  I'm going to place starting weight at 189.4  since that is what I weight last time I got on the scale (last week).

Day one was just the fit test.  Dear sweet baby frogs.  By the end of it I was collapsed on the floor, mid way through I had decided I wasn't going to make it.  I'd just have to put down "zero" for number completed for the last half of the exercises.  I didn't though, I pushed through.  I didn't get many but I got something and I'm excited to see how I'm going to improve.  Dearest checked on me a few times (despite my "I don't want you watching me do this" warning) to make sure I was still alive and hadn't stroked out.  I looked ahead at the workout I'm supposed to do today and I'm not going to lie.  I'm scared terrified.  The actual moves seem easy enough and in my workout frivolities I've done most of them at some time or another before but the pace holy molasses - it's gonna hurt.  I guess it's a good thing I suspect I'm a masochist.  This just may confirm those suspicions.

Anyway, after Day 1 - a 30 - 40 minute fit test from Hell and making decent food choices I weighed in this morning at 186.8  a 2.6 lb loss I will gladly take.  I also doubt that to be water loss seeing as I barely drunk any yesterday (bad! yes I know).   We'll see how things go today since I'm already a tad sore from yesterday..

Fruits and Vegetables for Weight Loss... and Other Wonderful Things. Who Knew?

In my last post I walked you through my intro to green smoothies.  Now it's been a few months and I'd like to point out a few things that I've noticed.  I took a green smoothie break over the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays and I ate pretty darn much whatever I wanted.  Enter 8 pounds - stage right.  That extra 8 pounds that I had seemingly *just* lost was making me miserable.  I felt like a sausage stuffed into my clothes, I was irritable and tired and just yucky overall.  I decided it was time to get back on track.  I didn't really notice so many changes when I first started drinking smoothies, but I noticed a lot of things when I stopped..

I noticed my nails.  While on smoothies my nails were strong, healthy, and were able to grow out longer than I can remember them ever growing (well maybe that one time I was on Slim-Fast).

My hair has grown and it was shinier, but I noticed it starting to get dull any dry again.

I was tired.  When I drank smoothies I didn't need caffeine.  I kicked it without a second thought.  I didn't drag my feet all day at work, I walked with purpose and dodged and weaved around slower walking people.

They also helped to regulate my bowels and control stomach bloat.

That's pretty big right there.  At first they did make me feel sick and gave me headaches, but that only lasted about the first week.  Now, even after not drinking them for a month I've had no problems returning to drinking them.  I crave them.  I crave fruits and vegetables.  That's *insane*.  All my life, I've never particularly been a fan of salads - the other night I ate one with a vengeance, it just tasted so good! I thought I had lost my mind, truly.

The past two weeks I've been eating a truckload of fruits and vegetables.  Well, at least what I consider to be a truckload.  I get at least 5 servings if not 8 or 10 or more.  Typically I can get at least 4 or 5 of those servings just from my morning smoothie.

I know it sounds like I'm trying to sell you on these things... but well I am.  If you try it, just for two weeks you just may love it.  Not to mention, it the last week and a half I've lost five pounds.  My cravings are greatly diminished and I've consistently been able to walk past the glass candy dish full of chocolate truffles without even wanting one.  That's flipping amazing.  I can't deny chocolate, who am I??

Now I did have a bit of a stumble one night that included way too many frozen mini eclairs (darn my brother for bringing those tiny temptations in the house) but I had planned that day for a higher calorie dinner.  I tracked everything I ate, every darn one of those eclairs.  I've learned that you have to balance things out.  Yes I had a glass of wine and three biscuit pizzas and (cough cough unsaid number) eclairs, but I also had a salad which kept me from eating even more.  I also planned lower calorie meals earlier that day, and had a lower calorie day the next day as well as adding in a little exercise.

I'm getting there.. one step at a time.

Now, it's off for a mushroom and spinach egg white omelet.  I save my smoothies for work days (they're super fast to make and portable woot!) to make sure I don't get burnt out, but I may still have one later for a snack.. they're just darn tasty.

Attack of the Green Monster!

Late last week I started to feel a bit of sickness coming on.  Wednesday I had gone to give blood and felt fine.  I think the lady doing my preliminary work up must have made me paranoid.  She seemed very concerned about my blood pressure, which was 102/60 or something similar (totally normal for me) and she was also very concerned about my temperature - 99.0.  Okay so maybe it's a teeny tiny fever but I felt fine and honestly, working at a hospital it's not that unusual for my body to be fighting something off all the time.  

Anyway, I gave blood and felt like a champ (especially after eating my Krispy Kreme doughnut).  Until the next day at work that is.  I felt sluggish, feverish, and had a scratchy throat.  When I went to the cafeteria at work I walked around to see what my choices were and when I walked past the fruit bar I honestly don't think anything had been so appealing in a long time.  It was delicious and wonderous.  Yes I just made up a word.

That evening I stopped by the grocery store to pick up some oranges and a few other things jumped into my cart.  Frozen strawberries, bananas, plain yogurt, spinach it just all sounded like things that would help me fight off the pending sickness.

I honestly don't even know where the idea came from, I've heard of green smoothies before but they always seemed weird and scary - way too hard core for me.  I decided that it was time to put on my big girl pants and give it a shot.  So this is the chronicle of the beginning of my green smoothie experiment.

Alma Matters

One of my favorite college professors was my Business Law professor.  I think I may have retained more from that class than any of my other collage courses, just because the professor made things fun, and relatable.  The two major things I took away from that class were:

1.  If you ever start your own business the very first step you ever take is to hire a lawyer.
2.  Always *always* read a contract in its entirety before you sign your name.

Okay now, just because I know something, doesn't mean I'm going to do it.  You'd think that maybe I'd have learned by now.  Well, obviously not - if I had learned that lesson I'd be a skinny healthy rich bit*h millionaire billionaire by now SURELY.  ;)

So... this year my employer is the main sponsor for the community Heart/Stroke Walk, and they asked for volunteers in my department to be Team Leaders.  I thought about it.. for like 45 seconds - the same amount of time that I considered participating in the walk (I've never been one for playing team sports, or exercising in public.. or doing anything that I don't know exactly where to go and what to do - what can I say I have some social anxiety issues).  Then they begged.  So I thought that if nothing else I could volunteer to help to give me a firm reason to participate in the walk, and hey it seemed like a smart move on behalf of my newly budding position within the department.  I thought surely as many people are in my department (a whole gaggle cluster of people really) that I would be more of a co-team leader, or a group team leader.  Nuh uh.  No way.  I did however get tons of brownie points with my boss, and his boss for that matter.  Oh man.

I got my first assignment today, and my reaction was basically "wait.. you want me to do what???" I've never been a planner, or a die hard leader (remember those social anxiety issues?).  I think I needed a microscope to see the fine print in this one.  I feel duped.  They made it seem like they just needed someone to set out a penny jar, or a deposit box for raffle tickets - I can do that!  Noooo, they need someone to recruit people, and raise money, and schmooze and come up with recipes and rally participation in a cook-off and I'm hyperventilating already.  I so know better.

I am the Queen of Procrastination, not the Queen of Schmoozing.  Schmoozing is what I have Dearest for, he could sell ice to an eskimo.  I *might* be able to sell water to a man in the desert dying of thirst, but only for half off.

*Deep Breath*

Well the walk is in a few weeks, so I'll let you know how it all works out.

In other news:  Weigh in Wednesday has been postponed until Thursday.  My scale and I are having a disagreement.  At least the tape measurer is on my side.

The Facts of Gym Life

I'm pretty sure that I've covered the fact in a previous post that in another life in a galaxy far far away I used to be a gym rat.  Minimum of 5 days a week, 2 hours a night, know everyone in the gym and who they're cheating on their spouse with kind of gym rat.  So what the heck happened?  Well - my boyfriend was a gym rat with me, but his rat-ness became a monstrous obsession.  He couldn't walk past anything reflective without stopping to check his appearance.  He even got all of his friends on the gym bandwagon, even though they had to drive at least thirty minutes to go to our gym.  I guess after he cheated on me, then left me for another woman who he married less than a year later three days before our anniversary in the place we were supposed to get married I just couldn't stomach the place - or him and his friends any longer.

Fast forward about seven years to today - I'm happily engaged to dearest, and with the exception of an occasional facebook run-in I don't much have to worry about the ghosts of boyfriends past.  Except for this week.  In the the past four days alone I've run into the previously mentioned ex's sister while out to dinner, and his best friend... at the gym.  Holy tamales he still goes to my gym.  Yes, I consider it my gym (regardless of the fact I haven't been regularly in years) because I was the first of all of them to go there, and I actually live in this town.  Also I heard from my "first love" this week who proclaims that I was/still am the love of his life.  *Yikes* I'm ready for dearest to come back home from work!

Toss in the fact that even though there is a whole row of free treadmills, men have to take the one right beside me, men who bathed in $5 cologne and still didn't manage to cover up that weird beef stick smell coming off of them in waves.  Thankfully I was able to dismount the treadmill and bounce away before losing the fiber bar I had for a snack this afternoon.  *insert disclaimer - this applies to women too, there is no need to wear any perfume/cologne at the gym much less bathe in it*

No wonder I haven't been to the gym in so long!

In more positive news... I've reached  one of the milestones that I've been pushing for.  I'm no longer considered "obese"  Yay!  Now I'm just overweight - but not for long!  I can't wait to have less knee pain, and not get winded when I go up my stairs.  I can't wait to be able to keep up with Dearest, and do all of the activities we keep saying we're going do - hiking, camping, rock climbing, white water rafting, bicycling, and more!  I'm sure he'll be thrilled with the possibility of my snoring being less bear-like as well.

Still Hanging On

So, as typical I got a bit disheartened by this whole journey.  Don't get me wrong, I still want to be healthier and skinnier, and all that jazz but sometimes it just gets old.  So after about a seven month hiatus here I am again.  Thankfully this time I was able to maintain instead of gaining everything back.  Woot woot!  At least I don't feel like I'm starting from scratch all over again.

Since I was here last, I do have some pretty cool and scary news - I'm getting married!  Dearest finally popped the question and now I'm trying to *not* hyperventilate while I plan this wedding!  I have found my dress, but I haven't bought it yet because I'm stubborn and in denial that my wedding dress will have to be *that* large.  I really don't want to wear a size 18 wedding dress!  *tear*  I mean really, that's like four sizes larger than my normal clothes that I wear every day!  Silly designers.  I tried on one dress that fit perfectly and was a size 12.  I shouldn't get so hung up on a size, but hey let's be real - I'll always be hung up on that, at least until I get back to a smaller size.  I was heartbroken when I went to try and dresses and the woman told me oh you can't have that dress, it doesn't come in "women's sizes".  What?? Thankfully it wasn't *the* dress, so I wasn't upset over that - I was just upset that she had me trying on "women's sizes" and that they constitute a size 14 as such!  Sorry - I think that's a crock.  Yes I have hips, and boobs and curves - don't go making me feel guilty about it then try to cover it up saying oh, well you're just a "real woman".  Bull hockey.

Anyway, I've also gone back to weight watchers.  I went with their online program, and thankfully the automatic draft has kept me attached.  Yes, I took about three months off - but I'm back since I didn't cancel my draft.  I really want to be down to 135 for the wedding, which is possible - that's about 38 pounds I just have to find the gumption to un-velcro myself from the computer and the couch.

Speaking of which it's a beautiful day, I should definitely go enjoy it!

Weigh In Wednesday

Wow, it's that time again.  Weigh In Wednesday.

I'll admit I was a bit scared of this week's weigh in.  Last week was hard, and full of emotions.  When Dearest came home from work I felt like I should cook him a "real dinner", one of his favorites.  We also celebrated Valentine's Day by going out to eat at a fancy restaurant.  Where I had wine, and lobster ravioli, and more wine.  Oh and dessert.  Add that on to eating pizza, fast food, and a failure to keep up with my tracking, and yeah - I was pretty concerned.  So when I discovered today that I had lost - anything at all I was stoked.

Today's weigh in:  174.6  for a loss of 0.6 lbs.  and a total of 16.4

*whew*

Thankfully I've convinced Dearest to go running with me.  To be honest I actually enjoy running alone, but it will be much nicer to have him push me, keep me motivated to go.

Yesterday and today were full of spring cleaning of both the yard and the house - and I'm pooped!  I'm ready for a nice dinner and some couch cuddle time with my lovelies.  Here I come!!

Weigh In Wednesday

Alright, it's *that* time again -  weigh in time!

I'm not going to lie, I had a hard week this week.  Someone very special to me passed away, and the week has been filled with family, tears, and all kinds of emotions that I'm just not really comfortable with.  I don't do well with emotions.

Add being sick all week and then there was also that Valentine's Day thing that happened... but I'm proud of myself - as much as I wanted to I didn't go out and buy myself a giant box of candy... or a tiny one for that matter. Now when one of the ladies at work offered me a cupcake though, well I couldn't resist.  Somehow this week my planned meals just never seemed to go as planned.  I still kept up pretty well with my food tracking, although I didn't get everything down.  That's why I'm happy to say that this week I lost.

This week's loss: -3.2 lbs  (um yay!)
Waist: -0.5"
Hips: +(-) 0
Thigh: -0.5"

This brings me to a total of - 15.8 pounds

Still Here, Still Fighting

Image via Wikipedia

First of all - Happy Valentine's Day all!

I'm trying really hard to NOT run to the store and buy the biggest box of chocolates they have on the shelf.

The past two years my Valentine has been working on Valentine's Day - so no celebrations for me.  Last year my co-worker's husband was out of town too, so I bought a little box of chocolate for the both of us.  That gave me an excuse.  The small box - not so bad.  The $30 Russell Stover sampler box.  BAD.  I've never seen such a ginormous box of candy!

*Ahem* ... moving on..

I know my posting has been rather irregular lately, what can I say - I'm such a blog slacker.  I want to assure you all though that I am indeed *still* on track.  I'm still a "loser".  I haven't however kept up with my exercise.  The weather is lovely, but the virus I've had all week certainly is not.  Hoping I can rejoin that boat next week!

The Giving and Taking of Inspiration

One of the hardest things for me to hang onto on this journey is motivation.  I start out hardcore, to the nines, balls to the walls, and then - kind of like this post... I see something.. shiny - over THERE!

Then I come back a few months later, ready to try again.

This time, I'm trying to reign in my OSS (Ooh Shiny Syndrome), and stay on track (another reason why I started Weight Watchers).  I'm proud, super proud of my progress so far.  I've even refrained from the hardcore, balls to the walls mentality.  In so doing, I haven't struggled to be perfect, to work out every day I said I would, and to let myself go with my brother to Cracker Barrel and stuff my face with pancakes covered in blackberries and whipped cream.  I also haven't burnt out.

I'm currently on week three of my Weight Watchers plan, and I've tracked everything I've eaten, EVERY day.  That was a hard thing for me to keep up with last time I was on the plan, so yeah, I'm proud of that.  Even when I'm tempted to say screw it - I have no clue how many points was in what I ate at the restaurant, I still put it in there the best way I know how.  Even though the scale and the measuring tape said I didn't lose a darn thing last week, I'm okay with that.  I know that is going to happen from time to time.  The reason I'm okay with that is because although, yes I really want to be skinnier, I REALLY want to be healthier.  I want to be able to go hiking with Dearest and not feel like my heart is going to explode, or be ill at him because I can't keep up.

After my brother and I gorged on pancakes and eggs and the like, we went to Wal-Mart.  He bought a set of resistance bands to go with his P-90 workout.  I bought a jump rope.

I'm also very proud of my brother.  Weight struggles have always been a family affair.  He's currently at his lowest adult weight!  He told me he was in the shower the other day and realized he had lower abs.  "I've never had lower abs!  Or upper abs for that matter." he proclaimed.  He's around 5'7" and only nine pounds away from *my* goal!

I'll tell you proudly, that right now - even with the pancakes and other randoms - I'm eating healthier than I ever have.  I'm eating more fresh fruits and vegetables and opening doors to foods I before would have never considered.  Thanks to guys like *Bitch Cakes*, JewliaGoulia, and Ex Hot Girl, this month alone I've tried and loved so many new things.  I've learned that although I don't like the texture of shredded coconut, I really enjoy fresh coconut (not to mention how cool it is it whack it open before you eat it).  I really enjoy hummus, something that always sounded so strange and icky to me and I eat it now on so many different things.  I also tried lentils, which were delicious too!

This week's shining moment for me though, was a comment made by a co-worker.  She came out of her office to ask me how much weight I've lost, and to tell me that I had inspired her!  She said that although she didn't join weight watchers, she is starting to make small changes in her daily routine and her eating. She told me that she normally will drink up to eight cans of Dr. Pepper a day.  Even reducing those and replacing them with water will make a huge difference for her.  What can I say, I was touched, and proud.  I'm happy that not only am I doing things to better myself, but that I must be doing something right to inspire both of my co-workers!

I'm happy that while I'm here, getting inspiration from blog land, I can pass that inspiration on to others around me.

Now, without further ado I believe it's exercise time.

Weigh In Wednesday

Well it's a blah morning here.  Weigh in Wednesday has rolled around yet again, and my results are not what I had hoped for.

Weight: 180.0  for a loss of 0 pounds this week.

Waist: + 1 inch
Hips: no change
Thighs: no change


So while I'm glad that I didn't gain this week, I'm still not jazzed.  The only thing I can figure is that I slacked on my water intake, oh and well dear old Tom..

At least today is my "Friday".  I've just got to make it through tonight, then I'll have my week off.. assuming I don't get called in that is.

*insert large sigh here*

Weigh In Wednesday

Alright it's that time again.  Thankfully I've got a pretty darn good report.  At least I think so!

Today's weigh in: 180.0 for a loss of 2.8 pounds and a total of 5 since starting weight watchers and a total of 11 pounds from my 2011 starting weight.

I've also started tracking some of my measurements because I've found before that they can be more motivating than my weight loss statistics some weeks.  However, I've always found them tricky because I never can seem to measure the exact same spot week to week, but the overall averages are nice to see.  I didn't take any starting measurements until last week, but apparently in one week here are the results:

Waist: -2 inches (I knew I could buckle my belt in a different hole but 2 whole inches?  Whoa - cool)
hips: -0.5
Thigh: -0.5

Here I always thought I lost weight from my thighs first...  Although I did notice the last time I did c25k that even though I technically didn't lose any pounds my waist got significantly smaller.  I know they say that you can't spot reduce but I do believe that doing different activities will shape your body differently. Yay for running - my belly is definitely my self conscious worry zone.  I'm all for making it smaller.

Back in the Game - Again

Okay, today I completed week 1 of c25k - again.  I will say, it was much easier this time around compared to last April.  I didn't have to resort to any granny shuffling and it was nice to be familiar with the neighborhood so I could vary my route.  Especially since the track is so incredibly muddy and squishy right now.

I checked my time compared to when I first did c25k.  When I started the first time I was averaging about a 17 min mile.  This week I've steadily reduced my time to an average of 15 min/mile.  Two minutes faster the second time around sounds good to me.  I noticed that the hardest part about week one was all the starting and stopping.  About the time I would get into a grove with jogging it would be time to walk again.

I knew the weather was going to be nasty later on in the week and was tempted to run yesterday, but even though I've felt like I could do more I want to be careful to not burn myself out early on.  I went to Target instead to buy more running clothes.  :)

I noticed they were having a sale this week on active wear, and I don't have any dedicated wear for cooler/cold weather.  I wound up buying two wicking tees ($5 each - holy moly) two long sleeve wicking tees ($10 each), a pair of "running tights" which are fitted capri pants (that after running in today totally love and not a bad deal at $19), a sports bra (that I'll be returning) and some wicking socks.  Now I know a lot of people put a lot of stock in investing in good socks, that they make a world of difference regarding blisters and such but I just haven't bought into it.  Luckily I haven't had any problem with blisters (yet), but seeing as how I desperately needed new socks, and they were on sale I gave in

Good gracious, holy moly, I'm in love with these socks.  I don't think I've ever put anything on my feet before that felt so lovely.  That was before I even got shoes on.  I'm sold.  I don't know if I can ever wear my plain, thin cotton socks ever again.  They're dreamy.  For reals.  *Edit* - They are C9 by Champion Duo Dry no show socks from Target.  They came in a pack of four, two black, one pink and one blue.

The sports bra I'll have to take back, after trying one on in the dressing room I just couldn't make myself take all my clothes off and do it again.  Lazy.  Yup.  So I grabbed a different one and the first being too small, this one was too large.  Hopefully I'll remember to take it with me when I go to town tomorrow.

The food situation this week has gone pretty well.  Dearest and I had a "movie night" Saturday where he corrupted me, and I let him - to a degree.  There was popcorn (but I made sure to get the 98% FF Healthy Pop stuff), there was Pepsi - throw back full frontal assault sugar loaded Pepsi at that, but we shared it and I only had a third of the bottle.  Thankfully I cut out to bed before he brought out the ice cream.  When I got up the next morning he had polished off the whole carton!  I made sure to log everything - I have all week, and I even still have plenty of my weekly allowance points left.  I'm feeling pretty good over all about my choices.  We'll see how Weigh in Wednesday goes tomorrow...

Hitting With the Double Whammy

Okay today's accomplishment:  I went running.

Woot!  I haven't gone since June-ish I think, when it got so unbearably hot and I wussed out.  Then of course... it got cold.  I'm an even bigger wuss in the cold than I am in the heat, but you know what?  I actually really enjoyed myself.  I even learned that given the choice, I'd rather run in the cold than in the heat.  Now when I say cold, remember I do live in the south, so 35-45 degrees is indeed cold.  ;)

Thankfully my very enjoyable run made me realize that it's time to double team this weight loss.  In the past several years I've tried either dieting or exercise, but not both.  I blamed it on a lack of time and/or resources when in reality it was just a lack of motivation and determination.

Things are going well with Weight Watchers, I've yet to feel deprived and in fact on several occasions have had a hard time getting in all my points for the day (we even ate out twice today!).  I'm sorry but I just feel completely wrong about eating a deep dish pizza just because I have the "points".  Granted it is nice to have the option should I go into a carb breakdown.  I started out wanting to just lose weight, but I'm in this to get healthier, to feel better, and well the weight loss - it'll be a great side effect.

I re-started the C25k program today.  Back on week 1.  I was curious to see how I did in comparison with the last time I started the program.  I am proud to say I started off much stronger this time and I don't think I granny shuffled once!  I did however really run out of steam towards the end.  Then I realized that somehow I had managed to finish the week 1 podcast and get mid-way into week 2.  Oops.

The other nice thing about running in cooler weather - there are fewer people out, by far.  Score again! Especially since my pants kept wanting to fall down - but I'm counting that as yet another good thing.

Weigh In Wednesday

Wednesday??  It's Thursday!!  Yes, I know - but I'm just now getting a chance to catch up on this week.

So here goes - I'll start with a little background info on Weigh In Wednesday.  I thought I could do this again alone.  The way I used to do it when I was going to the gym 3-5 days a week for hours at a time.  The way I used to do it when I was 20.

That didn't work this time.  Mainly because I haven't found the time or money to dedicate to a gym, and  probably in part because I'm not 20 anymore.  So I made a decision.  I re-joined Weight Watchers.  I feel that at this particular point in my life, it is the best fit for me.  Hence, the creation of Weigh in Wednesday.

I chose Wednesday because that gives me a little wiggle room on Sundays for family dinner with dessert, but will still keep me somewhat reigned in.  I also have a tendency to be stricter on my eating towards the beginning of the week (hopefully resulting in a better weigh in).

So for weigh in number 1 here are the stats:

182.8 for a loss of 2.2 pounds.

Since I joined on Sunday my first "week" was actually only three days, so I'm pretty happy with that.

Now I haven't been on Weight Watchers for several years.  By several I mean at least seven.  I think the plan has changed a good three times since then, which is good.  I need the motivation to "relearn" the plan. The part that I love about their new plan - I can eat all the fruit I want.

So here's to re-learning how to grocery shop, how to cook, and how to eat!

Just Five Pounds...

Ok, so far my strategy is working - thank heavens.  What strategy you ask?  The just five pounds strategy.  I have a tendency to get overwhelmed when I look at how far I have yet to go.  I get die-hard weight loss in mind and wind up being super restrictive of my diet.  Which lasts for about a week before I say screw it and OD on Krispy Kreme and pasta.  So this time I'm taking it five pounds at a time, at least to start out.

So far I've gone through two sets of five - for a total of ten pounds since January 2nd.  I know most of this is water weight so I can't expect to keep on such a pace, but it sure is nice for now.  Not to mention that I'm half way to 10%.  So you loverlies have a wonderful day - I'm headed over to victoria's secret.com to replace some of my battle-worn undies.  ;)

What a Shotty Blogger...

Ok guys, so true to form - like my weight loss took a hiatus, so did my blogging.  Let's face it.  I'm a shotty blogger.  Guess what though?  It's a new year, so I suppose I get another chance at blogging.  .... Right?

Well here it goes..

This year's resolution.. drum roll please...

Save more money on my groceries.  Yes, you read correctly.  Nothing in there about eating less, moving more, losing weight, getting healthier.  Because those are goals I'm keeping to myself right now.  I want to save money on my groceries by buying more fruits and vegetables and less pre-packaged, pre-made foods. I want to save money on my groceries so I'll have more money to spend on *gasp* a gym membership.

Truth be told the only way I've ever truly been successful at losing weight has been when I was a member of the gym.  I do plan on running outside once the weather tames.  We've had more snow the past two winters than I can recall in a very very long time.  (Here in NC snow and ice bring everyone to a standstill, even the city government closed for a day).  I'm also hoping that my work schedule will soon become more like that of a "normal" person.  This is the second big hold up in me joining a gym (first being cost).  We do have a 24 hour gym right down the road, but it's ridiculously expensive ($50 a month plus a joining fee) for a teeny tiny little gym.  We'll see.  While it's been hinted by my boss that I should have no worries at all about getting this new position, I do in fact have worries.  Quite a few worries, mainly because it's taking so long to get an answer from the board (It's been almost a month).

In lighter news, I've lost 8.8 pounds in the last week and a half!  Yay for that!  Amazing what drinking water can do... and cutting out bacon... and bacon grease in cooking... and candy bars from the vending machine.  That 8.8 pounds even includes a lovely little "cheat day"  Which included a healthy breakfast of oatmeal and raisins followed by lunch with the girls at Olive Garden.  I had unsweetened tea, soup salad and breadsticks (I did have two bowls of soup - the chicken gnocchi) and dessert.  Dessert consisted of one of their mini dolce thingies.  Then I had dinner with a different set of "the girls" at a place called Pastabilities, where I had a vegetarian pasta dish.  They had beautiful serving sizes, normal serving sizes not these plates that are three times bigger than your head.  Even though it was delicious, and I had a "normal" serving in front of me, I still could only eat about a third of it.  Later that night we had some multigrain chips and fat-free sorbet.  So while I did indeed have a cheat day, I still felt pretty good about my choices.

I'm still nervous about going back to the doctor for a second check on my cholesterol levels.  I went for a physical maybe a month or so ago and got a call saying my cholesterol was too high.  How embarrassing.  I've let myself go so much that it's impacting my health as well as my happiness.  Then a few weeks ago I hurt my knee.  I worked two extra shifts and apparently the extra work and my extra weight didn't get along.  When I went back to the doctor they said I had patellar tendonitis.  Neither time I visited the doctor did anyone mention anything about my weight.  I attribute this mainly to the fact that everyone I saw was my weight or heavier.  I know, however that the added weight has a lot to do with my joint problems.  The nurse who called about my cholesterol levels told me to take two fish oils a day (yuck) and "try to move around a little more".  She didn't say you need to exercise more, or you need to get off your lazy bum and do something other than hang out on facebook.  What happened to doctors giving you the cold hard nasty truth?  What happened to the scare tactics?  What happened to the "if you continue on this path you'll send yourself to an early grave" speech?  Huh.

Maybe I'm just too melodramatic about it.

You Bought a What??

Okay guys, I think I've got Dearest in on making some raised beds and starting a garden this coming spring.  I want to try and start making compost now though.  I've got a line on some food grade plastic barrels and I want to buy one to use to make compost and another for a rain barrel.

I realized though that if I'm going to start growing vegetables I need to decide which ones I want to grow... and I need to learn how to cook them ;)

I've never been what I would consider a great cook.  I just recently started to gain some self-confidence in the kitchen.. thanks to bacon grease.  Horrible horrible I know!

Anywhos... I've always been intrigued with butternut squash, spaghetti squash and acorn squash.  I've never eaten them, that I'm aware of at least.  They always have them in the grocery store though, and I've heard people mentioning that they like them.  Well I bought an acorn squash.  It was the smallest, and I figured I should start on a small scale to hopefully reduce waste if it didn't work out for me.

Of course when I got home Dearest saw it and proclaimed "What is that"?  I'm honestly amazed that I got out of the grocery store with it.  I was asked by the checkout lady the other day what a pomegranate was.

So far what I've seen has suggested baking it with brown sugar, which made me think of a sweet potato.  I need to do some more research on this one.

Tonight for dinner - chicken vegetable soup.

How do you work in your vegetables, and what would *you* grow?

Testing 123 ... Is this thing on?

Ok so if you haven't figured out by now, i'll tell you - I'm a geek. A slowly evolving one but one just the same. I just added the blogger app to my phone.

Hopefully this will help me be able to update a little more often and only make my blogger addiction worse. :)

So this is a test post just to make sure everything is working properly and all that.

Just as a preview note - any of you grow your own vegetables? I've been toying with the idea but really don't even know where to begin. More on this later.

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Life Right Now

So today I went to the ATM, grumbling all the way because it was an unexpected stop... and it was raining.  While I proceed to impatiently wait on the machine to spit out my cash, I let out a terrorfied yelp.  The ATM BIT me!  Apparently in my haste I managed to get my fingers a little too close.  I realized quickly that maybe my plans for today weren't supposed to go as planned.  I also realized that I have anger management issues, bad ones.

Sometimes my anger really does concern me.  I'm a bottler.  I shove everything deep inside to deal with later, then it just all spews out over something really insignificant.  Then I feel like dumbass.  I have horrific road rage.  I really am trying to at least substitute with calmer phrases such as: "I hope your socks fall down"  or "I hope you get a really bad wedgie" or "I hope you have a ginormous booger that no one tells you about".  Typically I only think of these later while stewing in my guilt.

I've also felt pretty unbalanced around Dearest lately.  I think a lot of that has to do with his work situation.  I'm used to him being home for a month, then being gone for two weeks, so I get a chance to miss him.  This time he didn't have any work though, and he came home early from his last rotation.  He's been home almost two months.  Almost every day of those two months.  All day.  Playing Xbox.  Not even going to go into that one..

I am grateful to get to spend the time with him, don't get me wrong - but I demand a pretty generous amount of alone time.  Me time.  No one else in the way time.  I haven't seen any of that in a while.  Perhpas that's part of my problem.

I apologize for the lack of rainbows over here lately.  My life really isn't horrible, the weather has just been a bit cloudy.

You need the clouds to appreciate the sun.